1 John 4:2 [2] “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:” One of the things I love most about the Bible, is that it gives us clear instruction on how to make the right choices. The first verse of this chapter warned us about spiritual error. The second verse teaches us how to know if what we are seeing and hearing is God, or not. I’m thankful we do not have to be deceived, but we learn from God’s Word was is true, and what …

1 John 4:1 [1] “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” John opens this chapter with such compassion. He does this by using the word “beloved”. This word reveals his love for those he is speaking to. I’m sure you have heard the saying, “No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care”. John first shows us he cares. We also see John’s caution, as he begins to point out his purpose for writing this text. He wants …

1 John 3:24 [24] And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. This would seem to be a strange title to a lost soul, but not to those who have been redeemed. As the song writer said, “Never alone, no never alone, he promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone”. What a great promise to the child of God! When we accept Christ as our Savior, John tells us that his Spirit abides in us.  …

1 John 3:23 [23] And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. God publicly announced his approval of his Son at his baptism, and again on the mount of transfiguration. These two incidents are not the only times that we see God’s approval on his Son, but they would have been enough to convince anyone that Jesus was the Son of God.  Faith in Jesus Christ is essential for man to have a right relationship with God. You cannot know God without knowing …

1 John 3:22 [22] And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. I remember hearing an old black preacher say, “You’ve got to pray and work, and work and pray. When work won’t get it, prayer will, and when prayer won’t get it, work will. And when neither prayer nor work won’t get it, you forget it, because you didn’t need it anyhow”. The preacher’s statement best describes our verse for today. We are encouraged to pray and perform.  If you are praying to be a …

1 John 3:21 [21] Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. We have come to the third devotional emphasizing the heart. The first devotional showed us the confirmation of the heart, in verse nineteen. The second devotional dealt with the condemnation of the heart, in verse twenty. Our devotional here, in verse twenty-one, shows the confidence within the heart. Together these three verses prove that God works in the secret chambers of man’s heart.  The truths of God’s Word take root in man’s heart, producing faith-giving assurance. God is greater than the heart of man, …

1 John 3:20 [20] For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. No matter how hard we try, we do not live up to our own expectations, let alone God’s. The same heart that can give us assurance, as we read in the previous verse, can also fill us with guilt. Our heart can condemn us to the point that we live in defeat. This proves a very important principle for every believer. The heart is not to be ignored, but it is not to be the final authority either.  Fact, faith, …

1 John 3:19 [19] And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. Our salvation is assured by the Word of God, the Work of Christ, and the Witness of the Spirit. The deeds that we do are by no means the foundation of our salvation, but they do assure our hearts that faith has taken root in our lives. It has been said many times that, “works do not produce faith, but that genuine faith does produce works.” The bottom line is, that when we are truly saved, we will have …

1 John 3:18 [18] My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. A Christian’s love should always be love in action. This is the exhortation in our text. If we say we love, and never put our words into motion, they are just empty words. So many today know how to talk the talk, but do not walk the walk. This is discouraging to other believers, deceptive to the one doing the talking, and nothing more than hypocrisy to a lost world. We should note that if a blind world …

1 John 3:17 [17] But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? I do not think the two words that make up the title for this devotional go together. That is why you see the question marks that follow it. From what he has written in this verse, John obviously felt the same way. The truth is, that you cannot be a Christian, and live a stingy life. Christianity is all about giving, not keeping. Jesus taught us that …